Alabama

Congressman Mo Brooks speaks to a crowd of 800 during the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Washington Update Luncheon in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center Monday, March 9, 2015 in Huntsville, Ala. (AL.com file)
(Paul Beaudry)

After U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks criticized a Senate super PAC backing Luther Strange in the 2017 special election, the super PAC fired back at Brooks.

Minutes after Brooks formally announced his plans Monday morning to run for Senate, the Senate Leadership Fund ripped Brooks' candidacy.

"While Luther Strange was cleaning up the corruption in Montgomery, Mo Brooks was living the life of a Washington insider, opposing Donald Trump and failing to get a single bill signed into law in four terms in the House," SLF spokesman Chris Pack said in a statement on the super PAC's website.

"If Brooks can't cut it in the House, how can he be trusted to deliver results in the U.S. Senate? It's clear Mo Brooks is more interested in advancing his own career than he is with delivering for Alabama."

Brooks described the super PAC on Friday as "Washington swamp critters" and said it was an example of Washington telling people in Alabama how to vote.

A spokesman for Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who has announced his plans to run against Strange, also took exception with the super PAC's tactics as well as state Sen. Del Marsh, who is expected to announce his plans to run for Senate this week.

The SLF has requested through the Freedom of Information Act records of any contacts Brooks, Marsh and Moore have had with Gov. Kay Ivey - who moved up the special election by almost a year after she replaced Robert Bentley last month.

The records request is an apparent attempt to determine if any of Strange's opponents sought to encourage Ivey to move up the election. Brooks, Marsh and Moore all said Friday they exerted no such influence.

Strange, then Alabama's attorney general, was appointed to the Senate in February by Bentley. Strange's office was investigating Bentley in connection with crimes that eventually forced the governor to resign - though that investigation was not confirmed until Strange's replacement, Steve Marshall, appointed a special prosecutor a week after taking office.

The National Republican Senate Committee has also vowed to back Strange as an incumbent, though he has not been elected to the office. That support, the NRSC said, comes with a stream of funding for Strange's campaign.

The Republican primary is Aug. 15 and the general election is set for December.